Hebe News – Article 1
SHARING KNOWLEDGE IN BARCELONA
Last August I wrote to Mr Montserrat, Director of the Botanic Garden of Barcelona, to outline my intention to donate about forty varieties of hebes to be grown in the garden, so that the citizens of Barcelona could become familiar with their features. We met to discuss this possibility at the end of summer and subsequently, on 26th October, I sent a further letter to fix a date for supplying and planting these hebes.
When Gordon Smith came to visit me in early November, we took the opportunity to visit the New Botanic Garden in Montjuic Park, where the hebes would be planted. This was established in 1999 and is located at an elevation of 140 m on a steep hillside overlooking the port of Barcelona and occupies an area of some 14 ha. The garden houses a comprehensive collection of plants from all parts of the world that have a Mediterranean climate. We had hoped to visit the Old Botanic Garden, which was established nearby in two old quarries in 1930. However, this garden is subject to flooding following heavy rain, and was closed when we were there. Details, in English, of both gardens can be found at http://w3.bcn.es/V65/Home/V65XMLHomeLinkPl/0,4555,418159056_418871429_3,00.html
After that, we went to the Tres Pins Municipal Nursery where we met the Director, Mr Joan Serrahima, who studied with me in the gardening school of Barcelona. He explained that the aim of the nursery was to provide plants, shrubs and trees for public spaces in Barcelona City, as well as maintaining them and building gardens in new areas. At present, they do not propagate many plants, but buy them in as required. They only propagate interesting plants that cannot easily be found in the market, such as Ficus repens and Datura metel.
The Director said that for municipal planting they prefer quick-growing, hardy hebes, which are tolerant of drought conditions in the summer, grow only to 1 to 1.5 m high and will keep a tidy shape without regular pruning. He took us to see some small hebes which had been bought-in recently as Hebe ‘Carl Teschner’, but which Gordon and I were convinced was identified more correctly as Hebe ‘Franciscana’. He also showed us a hardy and easy-to-grow Hebe which he referred to as ‘Hebe buxifolia Autumn Glory’, but which we were certain was Hebe ‘Amy’. He was particularly interested to learn of prostrate varieties, and we agreed that I would provide some correctly named hebes such as Hebe ‘Youngii’, Hebe chathamica, and Hebe pimeleoides ‘Quicksilver’. These will be planted in various municipal gardens in Barcelona to see which grow best. I also gave the Director details of the Hebe Society website to help in the correct identification of hebes.
We then left Barcelona to travel some 60 km north to the small town of Blanes to visit the Botanic Garden of Marimurtra (www.marimurtra.cat/). It was founded more than 80 years ago by the German, Carl Faust, as an international research centre. The garden covers 4 ha and is beautifully situated on a cliff overlooking the sea. The collection includes plants from sub-tropical, temperate and Mediterranean climatic zones. There is an extensive collection of palms, cacti and succulents. In the Mediterranean area there is a small collection of Australian plants including examples of Grevillea, Hakea and Araucaria. Both of us enjoyed the visit until it started to rain, at which point we decided to return to Barcelona as night fell.
Josep Vendrell
Registered Charity No 801398
